What to do with parents china?

Parents Forum Parent Cafe
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I had no desire to have Christmas dishes, but my mother-in-law decided I needed them. Honestly, I believe her insistence was because she didn’t want to have to “think” about what to get us for Christmas. So, for several years we received either a place setting or serving piece of it. Since my sister-in-law also wanted to be able to give us this as Christmas gifts (again, no need to put any thought into a gift), I had to dial back on what I would have chosen since she didn’t have the means that mil had. Which made me like it even less because not only did I not really want it, but also I had to choose a less expensive option. Eventually I gave it all away.

Later, mil decided I needed those Dept 56 Christmas village houses. I might have felt differently about both the Christmas dishes and the Christmas village had they been something I wanted. I probably sound like an ingrate. I, myself, am not a great gift-giver. It isn’t my love language, and I think that makes me less skilled on the giving end as well. Nevertheless, when I do buy gifts I try to put some effort into thinking about what the recipient would truly like rather than coming up with some “easy button” gift I can put on repeat for several years. Eventually, we talked mother-in-law out of all gift exchanges between us, but it took a long time.

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103

This thread prompted me to Google the china we have from my husband’s side of the family - just a few pieces. It’s not terribly valuable, but it was made in 1849, which is cool. :slight_smile:

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104

The only thing we registered for prior to our small wedding was china and stemware. We did not receive a single piece because both of our families thought it was awful and would not age well. So, we collected Old Country Roses over the years, and it’s still my favorite and especially perfect for Christmas:

Old Country Roses
Old Country Roses1280×960 284 KB

Like @thumper1’s mom, we have several sets, so we use the OCR only at Christmas now.

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105

When I got married I didn’t register or ask for any china, crystal, or silverware. Of course, my in-laws decided I needed these things and proceeded to gift me with them for many years. All in patterns and designs my mother in law selected. Most of this stuff has been given away (rummage sales, etc.) at this point. And almost all of it was unused (never once used the goldware I was given - it sat in the original wooden box in my closet for 30 years).

I would never buy my daughter stuff like this unless she chose it and asked for it. Furthermore, I always tell her if there is something in my house she really wants I am happy to gift it to her now instead of her waiting for us to die to get to enjoy it.

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My mother in law loved old country roses. I bought her over the years several of their decorative pieces. Stuff like these:
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107

We just have OCR dinner and tea service, no specialty pieces, but I do like them. :blush:

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108

OCR paired with Longchamp flutes. Talk about mixing high and low. :smile:

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109

Can I just say how much I am enjoying this topic? When someone mentions a china or crystal pattern I’m not familiar with I google it so I can check it out. It’s a nice break from everything Covid.

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110

We have Royal Dalton “Biltmore” china. The entire set for 12 plus all the serving pieces, and even espresso cups.

Our crystal is Gorham “Crystal Lady.” We have red, white, and champagne. The only ones re really use on any kind of regular basis are the flutes. The red and white wine glasses are too small.

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I care little about dish sets but I LOVE Fiestaware because it gives me that casual, colorful

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@Hoggirl i would have been hugely offended at a gift like that and it would have been a total waste of $. Offended because it’s clear that I don’t like collectibles and I don’t want extra dishes!

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The only “extra” serving ware pieces I/we took when my in laws died was 3-4 pieces of her pink depression glass - she had LOTS and gifted both her daughter a complete set. I jist took a couple pieces I thought i might actually use like a small pitcher, small side dish bowl.

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114

Yep, my 1950s corning dishes have modest value. My mother’s stuffing dish has sentimental value, so when I broke the flat glass lid a few years ago I bought replacement online, $20ish. (Lucky for me, the lid broke in such a way that the embossed id 945C was still intact). Along the way I saw lots of etsy discussions etc. Mine looks a lot like this (but NOT new and clean) - Vintage Pyrex Pink Daisy 2 1/2 QT Oval Casserole 945-18-WD NEVER USED with Box | #1809229716

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115

We have lots of unmatched but lovely old china at our family shared cabin. There’s no dishwasher so it stays in pretty good shape. I have a bit of my grandmother’s stuff, mostly dessert plates and I just use them as every day china. My mother’s china was a very simple 1950s pattern that has somewhat worn off because we used it almost every day. (I think the last two postings we used embassy china.) My cheapskate younger son was happy to take it all. I do love seeing it at his house. Brings back happy memories of family dinners.

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116

Oh, I can contribute!

For our wedding in … 1984…, we registered for every day dishes (Mikasa) and Wedgwood. We did not get sterling, nor did we get Waterford stemware (although over the years MIL gave us many Waterford bowls and serving pieces).

My mother loved dishes — and I used to tell her I would only take the patterns with 12 or more. She had several collections!

When the time came, after she passed, I divided the sets. Everything that was blue or white went to one brother and SIL as the patterns coordinated with their preferences.

The other brother got all the golds and greens, plus my grandmother’s china.

I kept the Wedgwood as I had picked my own (Wedgwood Countryware) to coordinate.

Before my mother died, she specifically gave me the sterling, to be sure that I got it. For the past 10 years or so, I have enjoyed my morning yogurt with a sterling spoon.

When D1 moved out, she took my mother’s Staffordshire Bicentennial dishes and all serving bowls and platters — and added plain whites from Target.

D2 took my Mikasa Bali Hai — and added plain white serving dishes from target. I kept the serving pieces as I use some with my current Crate & Barrel plain white dishes.

I liked Christmas Spode for awhile. Even though I did not get the place settings, I currently feel like I have too much of all the extra stuff, from coasters to cake plates.

My everyday dishes are now Crate & Barrel white dishes. My other choices are Wedgwood Countryware, my mother’s Wedgwood (Lichfield), my grandmother’s Apple pattern, another set we call the Petal Plates, a solid collection of green Depression Glass, and two additional sets of luncheon plates (one is Havilland Limoges — a delicate blue and green floral) and the other is Minton Haddon Hall with green trim! Only one set of dishes is kept in the kitchen, and we have one hutch in the dining room. We also have a basement kitchen, which nicely holds the other patterns! Except for the Apple pattern, the other dishes all have white backgrounds which makes it fairly easy to mix patterns with the Wedgwood Countryware.

I love meals at my Ds — nice memories are still being made on those plates.

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117

I’m not much into dinnerware, pots and pans or really anything involved with cooking. We still use the Corelle pieces from a set I bought after I graduated from college. I did update my Corelle dinnerware last year to a pretty red trimmed set.

I do very much like the Lenox Chirp pattern though. That’s what I would get if I decided to upgrade a bit!

I also have a set of dishes I got at TJ Maxx probably 20 years ago. It has a pretty folk art motif and I love it but it definitely is quirky and not at all formal.

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I bought the Lenox Chirp dinner plates with the red band plus the smaller Chirp Holiday plates with the birds placing ribbons on decorated tree. The bowls don’t have a band in either red or turquoise. They replaced a set of Lenox Winter Greetings dishes that were lost in a move. I missed using them this past year and plan to keep them when we downsize.

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I love the look of Fiestaware. Unfortunately, a combination of several problems with my hands and wrists made it painful to use since the plates and larger bowls are pretty heavy. It went to a local thrift store along with a few furniture items. The guy who picked it up said the Fiestaware would never make it to the shop shelves. I guess their staff and volunteers were fans, too.

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@LeastComplicated - I bought a set of Chirp Christmas dishes (dinner plates with a bright red rim). They are great except I am a bit ocd about any smudges or water spots on dishes, so it takes a little bit of an effort to polish that red after handwashing. The dinner plates are just a bit too big for my dishwasher, hence the handwash. But I absolutely adore the Chirp salad plates.

We were penniless when we got married, and no wedding so no gifts etc. I also finally bought a set of everyday dishes and donated my accumulated hodgepodge of Corelle and cheap Macy’s MS dishes to starving grad students. We had quite a discussion with Mr. about what to get! I had no idea he cared about the color of the plate he eats off. :slight_smile: He is certainly not picky about food! But if I was going to spend some money… we settled on V&B Twist Alea (a mix of green and yellow rims). Neither the Chirp nor the V&B are what one would call “fine china,” but I like them a lot and think that they are fancy enough. I can’t stand gold or silver rims on amy dishes or drinkware (with one exception - my Lomonosov tea and coffee set), and I am not a fan of heavy crystal. I bought some very pretty polka dot Kate Spade champagne flutes for fancy occasions requiring bubbles, and wine here is served from Bormoli and Reidel glasses.

Twist Alea:

https://www.macys.com/shop/product/villeroy-boch-dinnerware-twist-alea-collection?ID=100801

Winter Song Lenox Chirp:

https://www.replacements.com/china-lenox-winter-song-dinner-plate/p/85529491

Lomonosov tea set (Forget Me Not):

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121

OMg. I picked up a set of these (8 place settings with pasta plates, salad plates and a few serving plates) plus a mish mash of similar styles like Enoch by Wedgwood and Queens Indian tree at a flea market in Germany in 2004. Paid 25 euro- a local pub was going out of business. Made H pack them and we schlepped them back. The set included a couple of tea pots and a coffee pot as well as a few cups and saucers. We have been using this stuff for the past 16 years and can not for the life of us seem to break these things. I finally bought another 3 pasta plates from Etsy because we use these all the time. I’ve looked for table ware NOT made in China and it is impossible to find, so…we keep the flea market find and use it daily.

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